Chapter 23
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 23
Chapter Title: Gangwon-do Incident (5)
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“Aaaah!”
The moment I started extracting his knowledge.
“Hm?”
I tilted my head at the sudden resistance.
A seal?
An unknown magical seal had been placed in this man's mind. It prevented anyone from peeking into his memories, and if someone tried to force it, it would melt the target's brain.
“Ho. A real magic user, huh?”
Not many magicians could cast a seal like this. She'd hold her own in Hell, that's for sure.
I don't think I've seen a proper magician on Earth before...
To think someone with this level of skill existed here.
Interesting.
But it doesn't work on me.
I snorted and ripped the seal away.
Thanks to the forceful removal, this man would die soon, but that wasn't my problem. I resumed reading his memories.
Once I'd extracted all the info I needed.
I crushed the head of the man—the research team leader—and jumped out of the helicopter. The recoil sent it wobbling into the sea.
After landing on the ground, I stroked my chin.
“Hmm.”
True to his title as research team leader, the guy's head had held more interesting info than expected.
But the details I wanted were disappointingly sparse.
They got that blood from some grimoire... and that's it?
Just that?
Even this team leader didn't seem to fully understand the grimoire.
They'd experimented with 'that guy's' blood and figured out how to control subjects...
But they hadn't grasped whose blood it was or its exact effects.
Well, can't blame them.
That guy was on a whole other level from what these people could comprehend.
“For now... let's head to the research facility with that grimoire.”
The moment I decided that, I heard footsteps rushing over. Turning, I spotted Chae Seol-ah sprinting toward me from afar, wrapped in defensive magic.
“K-Kim Hyun! L-Let's go together...!”
Chae Seol-ah came gasping up to me.
“Hahk... hahk! I-I'm dying here...”
“Who told you to run all the way?”
“You're so mean...”
I ignored her whining and headed toward the lab. Chae Seol-ah followed, asking,
“W-Where are we going this time?”
“The research lab.”
“R-Research lab? Which one?”
“The one where they gathered nearby civilians for human experiments.”
Her face paled at that.
“Th-Then all those people...?”
“Nah, not all. They had some left in stock. About 40,000 still alive, from what I saw.”
She counted on her fingers for a moment, then asked cautiously with a stiff expression,
“S-So how many were sacrificed?”
“50,000?”
“...!”
She was too shocked to speak.
I dispatched the remaining monsters and soldiers while glancing back at her trailing behind.
“Got a question.”
“...Yes?”
“What's 'Siberian Russia'? Sounds like a country name.”
From the team leader's memories, it seemed like something distinct from regular Russia.
All I knew was just Russia.
Chae Seol-ah looked blank for a second before murmuring slowly, her face flushing with anger.
“Don't tell me... this incident was their doing?”
“Seems like it.”
“Those filthy bastards!”
She ranted about trash for a good while. She clearly wasn't used to swearing; her curses were pretty tame.
Well, her usual speech patterns did suggest as much.
Once her not-quite-curses finally wound down.
“Siberian Russia isn't a country.”
Her somber explanation began.
“If it's not a country, what is it?”
“More precisely, it's a Russian rebel group. Like old-school North Korea—does that help?”
“North Korea?”
Come to think of it, what happened to North Korea?
In a world with gates, returnees, and awakeners, a hermit dictatorship like that probably didn't survive intact.
“North Korea collapsed. They couldn't stop the S-rank gate that appeared in Pyongyang. That S-rank gate the government begged you to clear? It was the Pyongyang one.”
“Oh, that.”
I nodded, and she continued her explanation.
“...that's how it is.”
After her long-winded recap, I nodded.
“So, a national power-level returnee in Russia started a rebellion and took over Siberia on his own?”
“Yes, exactly.”
“Why explain it in such a roundabout way?”
“...”
“Anyway, got it.”
I stroked my chin.
The national power-level hunter in Russia that Chae Seol-ah mentioned.
Or rather, now the emperor of Siberian Russia?
Calling himself emperor was laughable, but aside from that, he sounded intriguing.
Still, no desire to go meet him.
Too much hassle...
I had other priorities right now.
With that thought, I finally stepped into the research lab.
The research lab was underground.
Kim Hyun and Chae Seol-ah descended the stairs.
The lab looked surprisingly clean. If shown to an outsider, they'd think it was just a normal facility.
But the deeper they went, the more its horrific true face emerged—hearts packed in tanks, people stacked like objects.
The kind of grotesque mad scientist setup anyone would recoil from.
Yet Chae Seol-ah showed no reaction to the gruesome sights. If anything, each corpse fueled her growing rage.
“How... how could they do this...?”
“...”
“Those evil jerks...!”
Kim Hyun said nothing, just pressed on.
They reached the deepest chamber.
A steel door blocked the way.
“Looks like it's in there.”
“What... is?”
“A book.”
Kim Hyun ripped the door off its hinges.
A dark space lay beyond—the only room without lights on.
At the same time.
Drip... drip...
A sound like dripping water echoed from somewhere.
“Water?”
Chae Seol-ah frowned and conjured a light spell, illuminating the room.
Tubes crammed with circulating red liquid filled the space.
In the center, amid the tangled mess of tubes, stood a mechanical arm.
Its clamp gripped a single book, blood trickling steadily from its pages.
The dripping sound...
Chae Seol-ah grimaced.
It wasn't water—it was blood leaking from the book.
Kim Hyun let out a hollow chuckle at the sight.
“So that's what it was.”
In that instant.
The mechanical arm began shuddering violently.
The blood dripping from the book halted midair, then got sucked back inside.
Whoosh!
A massive volume of blood from the surrounding tubes surged into the book.
Fully saturated, the book slipped free and floated into the air.
Flip... flip!
Pages tore from the book, circling in the air.
An eerie atmosphere gripped the room, and Chae Seol-ah swallowed hard.
The next moment, space tore open.
“Wh-what is this?!”
Chae Seol-ah edged behind Kim Hyun, shouting.
Kim Hyun waited impassively for the entity to fully manifest.
And then.
Blood erupted from the rift.
The scattered droplets coalesced into a human shape.
Once the form solidified, Chae Seol-ah blinked.
“A woman?”
The blood had shaped into a nude woman.
Chae Seol-ah glanced at Kim Hyun.
Normally, she'd have sliced the intruder head to gut by now—but Kim Hyun just stood there.
Which meant...
She's on Kim Hyun's level?!
Chae Seol-ah yelped and ducked fully behind her.
Meanwhile, the nude woman opened her eyes.
Her gaze swept the room, landing on Kim Hyun. Her eyes curved into delighted crescents.
“Demon Lord!”
She kicked off the ground, charging at Kim Hyun.
Like a puppy bounding to its owner.
“Don't cling.”
Kim Hyun swung her hand coldly, smashing the woman into the left wall. She let out a dry laugh.
“She followed me here...”
Only then realizing something was off, Chae Seol-ah peeked out cautiously.
“K-Kim Hyun? What's going on?”
“Nothing much. Just a dog that tagged along.”
A dog?
Right then.
The woman burst from the rubble and dashed up to Kim Hyun—without leaping this time, so Kim Hyun let it slide.
“It's been far too long, Demon Lord!”
She dropped to one knee, head bowed, eyes sparkling as she spoke.
“You can't imagine how much Bartori has searched for you. I scoured all of Hell, but to think you'd be in another world!”
“...Yeah, whatever.”
Kim Hyun replied offhandedly.
Bartori smiled as if it were nothing.
“But you left traces for me, so Bartori could track you here. The journey was a bit convoluted, but anyway!”
“Never left anything for you.”
Bartori grinned mischievously.
“Aw, c'mon, don't tease.”
Finally piecing it together, Chae Seol-ah swallowed and asked,
“Sh-she's... one of your subordinates?”
“Something like that.”
“Not a returnee... right?”
“Just a demon.”
Kim Hyun smacked her lips.
“A bit too loyal, though.”